The Frenzied Horde
“My lord, you've come! To come here in person—I never doubted you would.”
“Of course I had to come myself, old friend. You've been through a great deal.”
“Sniff!”
At the news of the Count's arrival, the village chief of Lukasha had come running at full speed, his voice thick with gratitude. Worry and fear had filled his face, but the moment he laid eyes on the Count, relief spilled over into tears.
Luden felt something strange stir in his chest.
So Father really was a lord his people respected.
Truthfully, it made sense. He threw himself into his people's affairs, and when monsters appeared, he came to fight them in person—who wouldn't love a lord like that? The only person in the entire Kaisar territory who hadn't known it was Luden himself.
“I feel ashamed all over again.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Don't worry about it.”
“What's that supposed to mean? Did you eat something weird?”
Well, if he hadn't known before, he could start learning now. The problem right in front of them took priority anyway.
“Sir Nelson, Knight. I greet the lord.”
“You've done well, Nelson. It was thanks to you that this village survived.”
“It was merely my duty, my lord.”
Having praised Nelson's efforts, the Count listened as the knight gave a detailed account of the situation. He had heard that goblins had attacked, but the village's actual condition was far worse than the reports had suggested.
“The goblins' behavior was strange, my lord.”
“Strange, you say? In what way?”
“They were mad. No matter how many we cut down, they kept charging at us. They didn't seem to be in their right mind at all.”
“Hmm.”
“What I find even harder to understand is that such creatures suddenly withdrew as the sun began to set.”
Everyone knew goblins were cowardly monsters, quick to flee at the first sign of danger. If not for Nelson's testimony, no one would have believed goblins capable of such carnage.
There was something else, too. If goblins invaded a village, their purpose was to plunder food or carry off people. Yet nowhere in the village was there any trace of looting.
“Hmm. Perhaps there's a variant among them.”
For creatures to fight so madly and then withdraw meant they were being controlled by someone. Perhaps there was a being that commanded the goblins.
That's bad.
The Count's expression darkened.
“Where did the goblins disappear to?”
“The forest west of the village, my lord.”
“Close, then. We'll need to keep a strict watch through the night.”
That day, the Count stayed in the village, comforting the wounded and the villagers, while the knights and soldiers kept their vigil without slackening.
Watching them, Luden found himself thinking of his past life. He hadn't joined that subjugation, so he didn't know exactly what had happened—but he had a rough idea of the outcome. The subjugation succeeded in the end. His father drove back the goblins that had invaded Lukasha and wiped them out completely.
But it hadn't been without cost. Most of the knights and soldiers who went along were badly wounded, and quite a few never came back at all.
Above all, Kevin's serious injury caused an absolute uproar.
That was, in fact, why Luden remembered this incident at all—because Kevin, unlike him, had gone along on the subjugation and returned badly hurt.
The Kaisar household had been thrown into chaos. Lady Mayran fainted at the sight of her son's mangled body, and there was a frantic scramble to summon healers and physicians from other territories.
Luden had heard the whole commotion.
Honestly, back then I thought it served him right.
His despised little brother had gotten cocky and paid for it—of course he'd felt a flicker of satisfaction. But he had no intention of standing by and letting it happen again this time. Like it or not, the brat was still his brother.
By the next morning, the goblins showed themselves again.
“Keeeeeek!!”
“Kekekek.”
“That's a lot of them. More than the reports said.”
Gripping his sword as he watched the green tide advance on the village, the Count's face hardened. Two, three hundred, perhaps. The numbers had tripled since the reports, but the Count had confidence enough to cut down every last one—except that protecting the villagers behind him meant he had to keep them from reaching the village at all.
“Warriors of Kaisar! Show these foolish monsters our valor!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
The soldiers' morale surged at the Count's words. With a strong lord and dependable knights at their head, defeat at the hands of mere goblins was unthinkable. Here and now, they would purge the monsters that dared defile their land.
Before the real battle began, Luden pulled Kevin aside.
“Kevin. I'm only saying this in case, but don't overdo it. No matter what.”
“What?”
“This isn't training. This is a battlefield where one mistake gets your head taken off.”
Every knight and soldier the Count had brought was exceptionally skilled—that much was natural, given their grueling daily training and frequent monster hunts. And yet in his past life, victory had come only at terrible cost. Against mere goblins.
Something's off.
Just as his father had, Luden felt a bad premonition.
“What was that? If you're going to spout nonsense, go away. Stop hovering next to me for no reason.”
“You little—”
But all he got back was Kevin's expression of utter bewilderment. For a moment, Luden genuinely considered dragging the kid somewhere and tying him up. He'd only spoken out of concern, and this was the thanks he got.
Can't just leave him alone, either.
Fine. He'd simply have to keep watching the brat himself. He wasn't trying to play the big brother now, of all times—but he couldn't stand by and let something happen to Kevin here.
“Kieeeeeeek!!”
“Show them fear!”
Once the goblins drew near enough, the Count drew his sword and charged, knights and soldiers at his heels.
“You wretches! I am the master of Kaisar!”
The Count's sword moved like a flash of light, and the lead goblin's head went flying. Blue aura blazed along the blade like fire.
Whiiiiing.
As the Count swung in earnest, wind rose around him. Wind laden with killing intent shredded the oncoming goblins in an instant.
Storm Sword
1st Form — Razor Wind
Once its true nature was revealed, the goblins died without even being able to lift a hand. It was, quite literally, a storm. The Count became an unstoppable tempest among the goblins, reaping his enemies by the dozen—and the sight of him fired the knights and soldiers to fight all the harder.
“Something is definitely wrong here.”
Swish.
Having cut down another pair of oncoming goblins, Luden tilted his head. He'd fought plenty of goblins in his past life, but the creatures he faced now were nothing like the ones he knew.
“Keeeek!!”
They charged mindlessly, as if death itself held no fear for them. All he could sense from them was madness—not a shred of reason. Goblins were supposed to be cowards who cowered the moment you showed them the gap in strength, yet these ones didn't so much as flinch as their kin died beside them.
Did these things drink something as a group or what?
They were so far removed from ordinary goblins that he couldn't think any other way. The others must have felt it too.
Thankfully, we have the upper hand.
Even against enemies charging with fire in their eyes, the soldiers of Kaisar didn't yield. In a wide battle line, they held the goblins back from the village. Not a single one retreated, despite facing more than six times their number.
Luden could guess why.
“Huaaaaap!”
At the heart of the enemy horde, Count Kaisar swept the battlefield like a storm. The merciless way he carved through goblins was like witnessing the reincarnation of a war god. Every time his sword flashed, seven or eight goblin heads went flying, and the wind raging around him tore their bodies to shreds.
He was simply strong. So strong that Luden couldn't understand why a man like this was buried out in the countryside. He'd once heard that his father had been scouted by the royal knights—and seeing this, it clearly hadn't been a lie. It was this strength that made the people of the territory trust and follow him.
Could I ever become like that?
Watching his father cut down enemies without pause, Luden caught himself wanting exactly that. Strange, at his age, to be admiring anyone.
“Keeek.”
“But first, these things.”
Leap
Luden leapt high into the air and cut down a bewildered-looking goblin in a single stroke. It was his first time using the skill in real combat—a rare opportunity for him as well.
“Kevin seems to be holding his own for now, anyway.”
Glancing over, he saw Kevin fighting alongside the other knights. His momentum looked good; no cause for worry yet.
Goblin Extermination Contribution: 2%
“Well then. How high can I push it?”
With the eyes of a predator eyeing its prey, Luden charged at the goblins, cutting them down amid the atmosphere of a battlefield he hadn't tasted in so long.
The anomaly struck about thirty minutes into the battle.
Vuuuuung!
Just as victory was coming into view for their side, an inexplicable sound suddenly rolled across the battlefield. And immediately after, the unbelievable happened.
“Kiiik.”
“Kekekek.”
The goblins, who had been throwing themselves into a life-or-death frenzy mere moments before, suddenly turned and fled without so much as a backward glance.
“What the—?”
Everyone stood dumbfounded at the sudden retreat. There was no telling why they would run now, of all times.
“Don't tell me that sound was a retreat signal.”
“All wounded are to return to the village! Only those still fit to fight, follow me!”
While everyone else reeled in confusion, the Count swiftly grasped the situation and gave his orders. He had no intention of letting the goblins go. Before they could return to raid the village again, he meant to wipe them out completely while the advantage was theirs.
At the Count's command, those still able to fight brought their horses around.
“Luden, Kevin. You two stay and guard the village.”
“Father!”
Kevin, flushed with the heat of battle, looked as if he'd been doused in cold water.
“Please take me with you! I can kill plenty more of those goblins!”
“No. We don't know how many more of them are out there—I can't bring you along. Guarding the village is important as well, so stay here.”
“Someone else could do that! Why? I can do it too!”
“……Don't overexert yourself.”
Kevin clenched his fists in frustration, but the Count gave him and Luden one last look and rode off after the goblins with his men.
Luden let out a sigh.
Ugh. Honestly, you two.
Neither of them could be honest. One couldn't bring himself to say he was worried, and the other had simply accepted that his father didn't trust him. Luden wasn't in any position to lecture anyone, but those two had real problems of their own.
Meaning it as a comfort, he put a hand on Kevin's shoulder.
“Kevin. Father's only saying that because he's worried about you. You're still young.”
“Shut up! Stop telling me what to do!”
Smack.
Kevin roughly knocked Luden's hand away, his eyes blazing. Then, without giving Luden a chance to say a word, he mounted a horse and galloped off.
Luden stood frozen for a moment, then his jaw dropped.
“Th-that little idiot?!”
Really, this was too much. Ignoring his father's orders and chasing after the goblins on his own? Recklessness had its limits.
Damn it.
Cursing under his breath, Luden hurriedly looked for a horse. He couldn't let Kevin go off alone like this.
If I leave him, Kevin gets badly hurt.
Anxiety surged up in him, driven by an outcome he already knew. But then—
Linked Quest: Purge the Evil
📍 Objective: Rescue Kevin Kaisar from mortal danger
🎁 Reward: Random Skill Book (Unique) ×1
⚠ [The quest will vanish upon failure]
⚠ [A massive penalty will be imposed if the quest vanishes]
“Damn it. Of course it happens now.”
The newly generated quest only deepened Luden's anxiety.
“If you get yourself caught, I swear I won't let it slide.”
Grit.
Luden's expression was more desperate than it had ever been.